


Counting

by EtteniotElicec



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Batman: The Animated Series
Genre: Comfort, Comfort No Hurt, Cuddling, Domestic Fluff, Edward has OCD, Fluff, Insomnia, M/M, My First Fanfic, Oneshot, Sleep, self indulgent fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-05
Updated: 2017-09-05
Packaged: 2018-12-24 05:27:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12006012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EtteniotElicec/pseuds/EtteniotElicec
Summary: Edward has been working on his latest scheme for too many consecutive days without a break and Jonathan thinks enough is enough.





	Counting

**Author's Note:**

> This was my first time writing a fan-fic and OH BOY do I have a new respect for people who write regularly and/or professionally! It is quite challenging, though also quite fun!

“Edward,”

“HUh, What?” Edward jerked up to see Jonathan standing next to him. How long had he been there? “What do you want, I’m busy.” He said, turning back to the blueprints he had sprawled out on the table.

“So I see.” Jonathan took note of Edward’s appearance and his surroundings. Large circles under the eyes; clearly hadn’t slept recently. Apple cores hastily thrown in the general direction of the garbage can in the corner; at least he was eating. One hand gripping a green marker, while the other frantically tapped on the table. Stubble and unkempt hair; that was a big sign, when a man as vain as Edward stopped caring about his looks. Even his outfit consisted only of a white, and stained, tank top, and question-mark boxers. “When was the last time you slept?”

The tapping grew faster. “That’s hardly any of your business Jonathan, so if you would kindly leave me to return to mine-”

“When, Edward.” He said, more as a demand than a question.

“Within me I am five, though I, myself, am not. Neither am I seven, though when seven ends with me, many calI me long.” That was terrible. Terrible and too easy. If he thought about it more, he could at least make it rhyme. Maybe he should have added a biblical reference, that would at least make it more interesting… His mind trailed off to criticize the riddle he made on the spot, only returning to the moment upon hearing Jonathan answer.

“Three.” He sighed, “You haven’t slept in three days.” That would explain the poorly constructed riddle.

“I’m fine Jon, just let me finish my work.” Why wouldn’t he just leave?! The tapping grew louder.

“A person as smart as yourself should know what a lack of sleep does to the mind. You need to sleep.” As he spoke, he watched the tapping reach the point where it seemed Edward was trying to drive his nails back into his fingers. It was fascinating to see Edward reach this point of obsessive focus. As much as he wanted to study the long term effects of this behavior, he instead decided to take this opportunity to test a method of bringing him down from it. It would, after all, be more beneficial to Edward in the long run, if it worked. He slowly brought his arm around Edward’s waist and leaned in close beside him.

There was a brief pause in the tapping, before it continued at its intense pace. Edward could feel Jonathan’s breath on his neck. He grumbled, knowing where this was going, though it wasn’t like Jonathan to be the instigator of such things, “I’m not in the mood, Jon.”

“100…”

“What?” Edward turned his head to face him in confusion. That wasn’t what he was expecting.

“99…”

“Are you… Are you counting?” He tried to get a read on Jonathan’s intentions, but he maintained his poker face, and answered only with:

“98…” He watched Edward’s frustration and anger melted into curiosity and confusion. The tapping lessened slightly. “97… 96… 95…”

Edward turned back to his work, trying to ignore Jonathan and his-

“94…”

-counting. What did he think it was going to accomplish anyway?

“93…”

Did Jonathan think he was just going to concede as soon as he reached the-

“92…”

-end of the count? Absurd.

“91… 90… 89…” Jonathan watched the tapping of Edward’s hand carefully. Though it no longer was as intense as it had been, it had not yet gone away. “88…” Although, he knew the counting was having a definite effect. “87…” Edward would pause his rhythm as each number was spoken., “86…”

Edward had to admit to himself that the counting was pretty hard to ignore.

“85… 84… 83… 82…”

Jonathan was keeping it so consistent, so even, so-

“81…”

-slow. He felt Jonathan’s grip tighten comfortably around his waist. He relaxed slightly at the feeling, but then straightened himself up again, “Jon, I don’t know what you’re-”

“80…”

He sighed, “What you’re trying to pull here, but-”

“79…”

“But would you stop counting for one damn, 78, min-” he stopped himself mid sentence. He had said it at the same time as Jon.

“77…”

He didn’t need to look up to know Jon said it with a smirk.

“76…” So he _was_ counting along. Perfect.

Edward momentarily stopped his tapping to rub his eyes before continuing, the pace slightly slower than before. He was starting to feel just how tired he actually was.

“75…”

“Can you at least just hurry up so I can get back to, 74, work?” He tried not to say it out loud this time. He really did. He silently cursed his OCD.

“73… 72… 71… 70…”

He wished with everything he had that Jon would just speed up the count.

“69… 68… 67… 66…”

But instead he was met with the same consistent spacing between the numbers.

“65… 64… 63… 62…”

Edward slowly relaxed into Jon’s grip again. It was just so comfortable, and, _god_ , he was so tired.

“61… 60… 59… 58…”

He looked back at the work in front of him. There was still so much to do. He wanted to keep going, but he just couldn’t focus on anything other than-

“57…”

-that. Every time his thoughts tried to move to something else-

“56…”

-another number.

“55… 54…” Jonathan was certainly pleased when he felt Edward leaning into him, relaxing further, “53…” The tapping had gone down to a few sparse notes, like when microwave popcorn is almost done cooking, “52…” This method was proving to be quite effective, “51…” He reached forward with his free hand and tried to remove the marker in Edward’s grasp. “50…” a bit of resistance at first, but then Edward’s grip loosened, and Jonathan was able to pull it free and place it on the side of the table “49…”

Edward felt he had to put all his concentration into just keeping his eyes open.

“48… 47… 46… 45…”

He felt Jon’s shoulder on the back of his head. Was that Jon’s doing or his?

“44…” The tapping had finally stopped, “43…” Jonathan determined that now was the moment of truth, “42…” Jon stepped away from the table but maintained his grip around Edward’s waist, “41…” Edward stepped with him. “40…” Perfect.

Edward thought about pulling away-

“39…”

-but he was just so tired.

“38…”

He blinked, and his eyes stung.

“37… 36… 35…”

With every step, he felt his legs could give way at any moment.

“34… 33… 32…”

He leaned on Jonathan the entire way to the bedroom, a touch of relief hitting him once the bed was in his sights.

“31… 30… 29… 28…” Jonathan gave him a quick kiss on top of his head before letting go of his waist to pull back the sheets. “27… 26…” to his pleasant surprise, Edward collapsed onto the bed immediately, only taking a quick second to turn himself to face Jonathan’s side. “25… 24… 23… 22…” Jonathan climbed into the bed himself and looked at the man before him. His eyes were closed, dark circles still present, but his forehead was no longer creased in his obsessive focus. “21… 20…19… 18…” a few loose strands of his messy red hair grazed his face, and his mouth hung open slightly as he quietly muttered the numbers along with Jonathan. He looked absolutely exhausted, “17… 16…” absolutely relaxed, “15… 14…” and absolutely beautiful.

Edward was just on the edge of consciousness now, barely aware of the sheets being pulled over him.

“13… 12… 11… 10…”

He wasn’t even aware that he was muttering along with the count. But at this point he wouldn’t have cared.

“9… 8… 7… 6…”

He felt Jonathan’s arm wrap around him again, and he felt a warmth inside of him at the touch.

“5… 4… 3…”

Their foreheads touched together as they neared the end of the count.

“2… 1…”

Just before sleep took hold of him, Edward felt Jonathan’s lips brush against his own.

“0.”

**Author's Note:**

> I came up with this when I was having trouble sleeping, because I had too many thoughts in my head at once and I couldn't/didn't want to ignore any of them. Usually what I do then is I start counting backwards from 100, try to focus on that instead of everything else, and pray that I fall asleep before I hit 0. Then instead of focusing on my count, I thought, "Hey, wouldn't it be cute and fluffy if Jon had to do this to get Eddie to fall asleep?" So as I lay there in bed, I thought out basically the entire fic, instead of trying to fall asleep. I also gave Eddie my habit of finger tapping when I'm stressed. Fortunately, I recently got a fidget spinner, and it actually helps a lot more than I thought it would. 
> 
> Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed my first self-indulgent fuff fic! Probably the first of many!


End file.
